Solution Provider Marketing Deserves Praise

About once a month, or whenever the news warrants, Harrison sends a well-written newsletter highlighting a technology or product release that will benefit his customers. Of course, the sale of those products will benefit Silicon East, which is the whole point. But Harrison never reverts to a hard sell. Instead, he opens with a clever introduction, explains the development cycle of the product leading up to the release and outlines how the product will benefit his clients' businesses. The newsletter generates an overall enthusiasm and excitement for the release, as opposed to over-inflated hype. Harrison also includes links to recent articles about his company and information about the technology its highlighting. Typically, the missive ends with some type of cool customer event, such as an open-invite Webcast, to further generate excitement and bring Silicon East closer to closing sales.

Here's an example of Silicon East's latest newsletter. Contact me at 516-562-7485 or [email protected] if you have any cool customer marketing ideas you'd like to share.

HERE COMES VISTA

Microsoft Readies Its Biggest Product Launch EVER Unless you've been marooned in the South Pacific with no Internet connection (if that's even possible), you've surely heard that big things are about to happen at Microsoft. We've been deeply involved (along with a few of our clients) in the testing of both Windows Vista and Office 2007. And for about the past year, virtually every PC we've delivered has been ready to run Vista and Office 2007. Very shortly, Microsoft will finish work on these products and send them to manufacturing.

In parallel, probably by next week, they will start to include upgrade coupons with every copy of Windows XP, allowing you to upgrade to Vista when released. And early next year (we hear in Times Square), Bill Gates will officially release these products for sale. Expectations are very high, and Microsoft's stock has risen about 25% since June. We expect these product launches to be huge for us and keep us busy throughout 2007. We been training and testing all year, and feel confident and prepared once launch day arrives. Most importantly, these products are revolutionary and will change the way you work. And it's not too soon to start getting prepared. As our client, this coming Monday afternoon at 4 PM you are invited to tune into the first ever Vista Tips and Tricks webcast designed specifically for users. It promises to be one hour of your time very well spent, as you'll get to see many of the best, really exciting, and fun features of Vista. Register here before the event fills up!

There's also a combined Vista/Office 2007 together webcast on November 7 at noon. You can register for that one here.

And one more cool thing Microsoft has done " they've got an online test drive of Office 2007 that you can try without installing anything other than a browser plug-in (which is safe) on your PC. Check it out (hopefully in conjunction with the webcast!) right here. The Death of the Copying Machine? Lexmark, who you probably know as a leading vendor of rock-solid printers, has done something so outrageous that it's worth taking a serious look. As background information, for some time Lexmark has taken their print engines, mounted a scanner on top, added some software, and produced a line of multifunction printer/scanner/fax/copier machines. They've been solid sellers, but not market leaders " until now.

A couple of weeks ago Lexmark announced a limited-time promotion that has everyone reconsidering the traditional copier. In essence, what Lexmark is doing through November 17 is selling their multi-functions for half price. T

o give you an example, let's look at their x642e, which you can read all about here. This unit prints and copies at 45 pages/minute and is rated at 200,000 pages per month. It is network-ready and you can add options such as trays, stands, font cards, memory, etc. All functions are controlled via a touch-sensitive screen. We are selling this unit, including a three year on-site service contract (parts and labor) for just $1380.

In essence, after that for three years all you buy is toner, and maybe a few replaceable parts if they wear out. And for not much more, there are even faster and more capable models. Longer service contracts are available as well.

The bottom line is that no matter how you do the math on this, it comes out way less expensive than the traditional copier lease that almost everyone is locked into today. So if you've got a copier coming off lease, or exceeding its page count limit, or you just want to add really advanced printing and copying capabilities to your office, or even if you just need another printer, take advantage of this offer before November 17. Silicon East in the News One great, and maybe the final article on our participation in Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Enjoy it here. Thanks for reading, Marc